In recent years, microfabrication techniques of a 10-nm pitch level that excel in mass productivity have been required to form ultrafine patterns in LSIs (Large-Scale Integrated circuits), HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), and the like.
At present, PEP (Photo Engraving Process) techniques based on photolithography are often used in substrate microfabrication. However, the resolution limit of the PEP techniques is approximately 35 nm to 40 nm, and it is difficult to perform miniaturization at a lower resolution than 35 nm.
Meanwhile, the resolution limit of PEP techniques based on electronic lithography is 15 nm to 20 nm. Accordingly, it is possible to perform microfabrication at the pitch of this resolution limit. However, even where a PEP technique based on electronic lithography is used, it is difficult to perform microfabrication at a lower resolution than 15 nm. Furthermore, such a PEP technique requires a long pattern drawing time, and therefore, is not suited for mass-production processes.
Nanoimprint techniques are drawing attention as techniques that excel in terms of microfabrication and mass productivity, and recently, have been put into practical use as pattern forming methods on the order of several tens to several hundreds of nanometers.
By conventional nanoimprint techniques, however, defective transfers often occur at the time of template removal in the imprint process, and defects appear in the obtained fine patterns.